Firm and Provider News

The American Bar Association Litigation Section's Committee on Corporate Counsel this month will present its annual CLE Seminar.
The conference will take place Thursday-Sunday, February 15-18 at the Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, FL. Sessions will run from 5 to 6:15 p.m. on the first day, 8 to 10:30 a.m. on the second, 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on the...

Partners or senior attorneys depart from every law office at one time or another, yet most firms don't plan for this eventuality. In a recent survey, 53 percent of attorneys polled said their law firm or legal department does not have a formal succession plan in place for key positions.

The international law firm Gianni, Origoni, Grippo & Partners has announced the opening of its new office in Brussels.
Mario Todino, former official of the Directorate General for Competition of the EC Commission, is the newly hired resident lawyer for the Brussels office. He will lead a team of four lawyers.
The Brussels office will provide the firm'...

The Somerville law firm of Norris McLaughlin & Marcus, P.A. has announced that Fernando M. Pinguelo and Haekyoung Suh have been named members of the firm.
Mr. Pinguelo practices in the areas of civil litigation and appellate law, specializing in complex commercial litigation and labor & employment matters in both federal and state courts. He...

Fred F. Fielding, a name partner at the Washington, DC law firm Wiley Rein & Fielding, has been named by President Bush to serve as Counsel to the President, succeeding outgoing counsel Harriet Miers. Mr. Fielding, who joined the firm in 1986 following his tenure as White House Counsel to President Reagan, will assume the post on February 1.

Stradley Ronon partner and ADR Practice Group Chair Bennett G. Picker was recently reappointed as Mediator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a four-year term (2007-2010).
Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, CAS is recognized as the exclusive agency for the resolution of sports-related disputes by 31 international sports federations,...

Mark C. Levy, a partner in the Litigation Department and chair of the firm's Life Sciences Litigation and Risk Containment Practice Group, has been appointed to the Editorial Advisory Board of the Food and Drug Law Journal.
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Christopher P. Stief, a partner in the Litigation Department and co-chair of the Employee Defection & Recruitment Practice...

The Hon. Sandra Schultz Newman, the first woman ever elected to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, has been tapped to head the rapidly growing nationwide Appellate practice at Cozen O'Connor. The appointment was effective January 1.
Justice Newman has served since 1995 on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Prior to that, Justice Newman was a judge for the...

RPost has announced that that IBM has selected RPost's REGISTERED E-MAIL solution among the top three Best Messaging and Collaboration Solutions available world-wide for 2007.
IBM conducts an annual world-wide search for the IBM/Lotus compatible solutions that set the standard for business excellence, ingenuity, and customer satisfaction. IBM received 370...

Continuing its aggressive expansion in the intellectual property arena, King & Spalding has announced that Richard Pettus, a patent litigator with significant experience in the pharmaceutical, medical device and consumer products sectors, has joined the firm's New York office as a partner in its intellectual property practice group.
Mr. Pettus is the...

Cheryl D. Orr and Heather M. Sager last month joined Drinker Buddle & Reath LLP as partners in the firm's HR Law Practice group. Both lawyers come to Drinker Biddle from Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, a boutique California labor and employment firm, where Ms. Orr served as managing partner of its San Francisco office and Ms. Sager was a...

Cozen O'Connor has announced the formation of a government relations practice group to assist clients in creating and implementing strategies to address the impact of policy decisions on business, help clients explore and enhance business opportunities with government entities and resolve conflicts that might arise out of government-related dealings at the...

Howell W. Melton Jr., managing partner of Holland & Knight LLP, has announced that 35 attorneys in the firm were elected to partnership effective January 1. Twenty-five associates and 10 senior counsel in various offices throughout the firm were elevated. They are:

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP announced that Alicia Villareal, senior litigation counsel for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Central District of California, was scheduled to join the firm in the Litigation Practice as of January 2.
Based in Los Angeles as a partner, Ms. Villareal will focus on commercial litigation, corporate compliance and...

Goodwin Procter LLP was one of the honorees on December 14 who received the 2006 Cornerstone Award, given annually by the Lawyers Alliance for New York (LANY).
Since 2001, 50 Goodwin Procter attorneys have dedicated more than 2,600 pro bono hours on behalf of 17 clients referred to the firm by LANY. As a result of the firm's work with LANY clients, the...

George Bundy Smith, who served for 14 years on New York's highest court, has joined Chadbourne & Parke LLP as a partner in the firm's litigation practice based in the New York City office.
'George Bundy Smith has had a storied career, and we are honored to have such a distinguished jurist join Chadbourne,' said Managing Partner Charles K. O'Neill.'...

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General Gerald Pappert, a partner at Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, has been appointed to serve on the Board of the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
The seven-member Boardcomprises three gubernatorial appointees and four legislative appointees, each representing one of the legislative caucuses. Mr. Pappert was...

A new survey of more than 250 corporate counsel at Fortune 1000 companies ranks Holland & Knight LLP as one of the nation's top three law firms for delivery of superior client service. Contributing to Holland & Knight's ranking was the firm's rating in advising clients on business issues and its commitment to helping clients, according to The BTI...

King & Spalding has announced the expansion in Washington, DC of its international arbitration practice with the planned arrival early this year of consultant Margrete Stevens, former acting lead counsel of the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Ms. Stevens brings to the firm's Washington office the...

Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP (K&LNG) and Preston Gates & Ellis LLP (PG&E) partners have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposed combination of the two firms effective January 1. The name of the combined firm will be Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP, and the firm will be branded as K&L Gates.

Akerman Senterfitt has announced the election of 25 new shareholders, including 19 internal promotions and six lateral hires.
In the Fort Lauderdale, FL office, Ed Guntin was named shareholder in the Intellectual Property practice group and William F. Sullivan, Jr. in the Corporate practice group.
In the Jacksonville, FL office, Peter Dame was...